UK households must pack 'an emergency kit' before midday on Friday

The weather warning for storms takes hold on September 20 (Friday) and will expire on September 21 (Saturday), the following day.

The Met Office has issued a yellow thunderstorm warning for the south of England across two days this week. The weather warning for storms takes hold on September 20 (Friday) and will expire on September 21 (Saturday), the following day.

On its website, the Met Office has tips for staying safe and explains: "Follow this three-point plan to check and be prepared. Check if your property is at risk. If you are at risk, take the next two steps to protect your property when you need to: prepare a flood plan and prepare an emergency flood kit.

"It's never too late to take action and prepare for flooding." The Met Office urges people to check the flood advice in your area to know when and where flooding will happen, charge mobile phone devices, park your car outside the flood zone and prepare a flood kit to help you cope in the event of flooding to your home and business.

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Store valuables up high, including electrical devices, important documents and furniture. Turn off gas water and electricity supplies. A few thundery showers may be present across southern and southeast England early on Friday, but from the middle of the day they are expected to develop more widely within the warning area.

Whilst some places will remain dry, where thundery showers do occur, they will bring frequent lightning, gusty winds, potentially some large hail, as well as brief spells of heavy rain. 15-25 mm of rain fall may fall within an hour, with a very small chance of 30-40 mm falling in 3 hours; the latter most likely across southwest England. Showers will tend to ease and fade during Friday evening.

The warning takes hold midday tomorrow and expires at 8pm. A secondary alert comes into force from midnight to midnight on Saturday.